WORKSHOP ON AUSPICIOUS DATES SELECTION BY MASTER CHEW

23 rd July 2006 (Sun) @ Safra, Mt Faber

In the Eyes of a Participant :-

The morning was cool and it made most people very reluctant to get up from the bed on a lazySunday morning due to the earlier downpour during the dragon hours.I woke up anyway due to my biological clock in the brains. Today is a very important day –a milestone which I would never believe I would make myself to attend a memorableworkshop, conducted by my Bazi Master Chew Keat Leng.

Going back to my childhood’s memories:-

Going back to my childhood days, I would recall growing up in an environment surroundedby family members/relatives & neighbours who were extra superstitious. Most of our daily,weekly or festive routines would be ‘governed’ by this little Chinese Red Book called the‘Tong Shen” or “Tong Shu”. These routines applied to celebrations, prayers, moving house,admission to hospitals, weddings, childbirths etc.The children in my neighbourhood at that time were mostly enrolled in mainstream Chineseschools. However, my Dad saw the future of English as the important medium in the Spore’seducation system & decided to go against tradition by registering me in an English languageschool for my primary education. As a result, I felt a little outcast amongst my young peers.Hence, with the science & logic which paved the way of my academic education journey, thismarked my destiny of being a skeptical person & always challenging those traditions &

2cultural practices without logical explanations. I would incur the ire of the relatives & eldersif I asked too many questions. Deep inside me, I found it frustrating too to be controlled bythese dates in this supposedly magical Red Book. One would understand why becauseChinese culture and religious practices were not taught openly in schools during those daysexcept for this simple lesson called “Civic” subject. So that made me even more doubtful onthe ancient beliefs and practices of choosing auspicious dates for whatever reasons one mighthave.The life journey is very strange at times. After going the long path of life experiences, Icrossed paths with some FS Masters who had enlightened me with the science of FS & theunder-lying meanings of the interpretations of one’s birth data or Bazi. It was throughMaster Chew that I benefited very much from the in-depth teachings, values & understandingof one’s destiny. This is because he used many Chinese idioms/proverbs or the classical wayof interpreting the Bazi analysis which no English translations can effectively bring out theessence of understanding the Bazi interpretations from the conceptual method of learning.As I am still going through this learning journey, I was pleasantly surprised to learn from mySeniors that Master Chew was going to conduct a workshop on 23 July 2006 in sharing theuse of this Chinese Tong Shen with his students & their guests. The objective was to be ableto understand the use of this book in a responsible way when looking at Date Selections forcommon things affecting our daily lives.Hmm…… why not? I thought to myself. Finally, I might be able to seek the answers tomany of my unanswered questions since my childhood days and trying to understand why myelderly family members & relatives were so ‘fanatic’ over some customs & taboos.

The Workshop Day

The Sunday morning started seeing a steady stream of workshop participants coming intoSAFRA workshop room @ Telok Blangah from different parts of Singapore as early as9.00am, one hour ahead of the workshop time. Most faces were enthusiastic, eager & hungryfor invaluable information which Master Chew had promised to deliver during the 6-hourworkshop inclusive of lunch. So far, most of us had never come across any Master who hasconducted a public workshop on this topic. This workshop was not only exclusively forMaster Chew’s present & past students, but also made available to other participants throughwords of mouth. It was also a warm sight to see Master Goh Guan Leong & his studentsattending this workshop as well. Incidentally, Master Goh is a disciple of Master Chew andhe is now teaching Bazi courses in Chinese medium professionally at another venue. He isthe author of 4 Pillars book currently available in both English & Chinese.The morning kicked off with the main Organising Committee Members addressing theparticipants with a welcome message before Master Chew went into the workshop proper.This was followed by a decent buffet lunch in one of the restaurants at Safra for networkingpurposes. Old and new students networked with each other and there was much laughter hereand there. Yes, the occasion was very ‘yang’. The 2

part of the workshop continued afterlunch before calling it a day by 4.00pm.

Some Interesting Highlights during The Workshop:-

Master Chew started off with many interesting slide presentations on the Tong Shen of whichkey pages were highlighted. Reference pages were pointed out especially those Chinesecharacters printed either in Red or Black Ink. (Master Chew used to be known as a Masterwho gave very little visual presentation or notes to his students so that they would not bespoon-fed but to pay attention to his lectures). This time, the visual presentation was veryprofessionally done and each participant received a workshop booklet full of informationderived from the Tong Shen. This helped the majority of us to follow him as he wentthrough slides by slides highlighting the important key points. The workshop materialsdefinitely served as a very important reference book for all participants to understand theTong Shen better.(a) Auspicious EventsOne key point to note is that for any auspicious events, it is always important to havethem take place before noon when the yang energies are very strong. This includesmarriages, new births, prayers, placing of matrimonial beds etc etc(b) ConceptionsConceptions were also discussed on the appropriate directions of the matrimonial beds,and the best time for the couple to conceive due to the different factors covering yin &yang energies, food intake, medical assistance etc. Also in a humorous way, the correctdirection of the bed in the hotel room could be used if the HDB flats’ orientation does notpermit the best bed placement for the couple to conceive based on their combined birthdata. Now we know why some couples have to go overseas to start a family discreetly.(c) Wedding DatesAnother challenge for most Masters would be to derive a suitable wedding date for a newcouple. Clashes of the zodiac signs of the bride’s & bridegroom’s family members wouldhave to be considered carefully. In most cases, half the member family’s memberswould be ‘discounted’ due to the clashes. Many a times, the auspicious timing may besuitable but the chosen date itself is not a good alternative. The course participantsrealized that one needs a good foundation of understanding Bazi in order to choose analternative auspicious date in a responsible way.(d) RenovationLots of people like me may not understand the Chinese lingo “renovation” as in “ThongTu” or “Phor Tu”. For example, it is important to note that “Thong Tu” is veryimportant for yang dwellings,. “Por Tu” is only for burial of the dead people. So it isvery important for all of us to use “Thong Tu” for auspicious date selections. OnlyPractitioners or Masters who are trained in Yin Fengshui practices may use Phor Tu in aresponsible way.